The board was 24” x 46” of 9mm ply. If I was to do it again, I’d make it about 6” larger all round. It’d still be a 1-man carry without too much weight penalty. Have fun!

You’re being way too kind! But thank you for the kind words!

Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you like the layout and scenery.

Starting with cost - the train set (a loop of track, controller and the loco and carriages) was about £320 (current recommended price £375). Extra track was about £70 I think. The Metcalf buildings (houses, signal box, station, and shed) were about £15 each - £60 total. I bought some super cheap model landscape grass, shrubs, etc for about £20. Track ballast - £10. The base board and hard landscaping plaster were from my shed supplies - but the board would have been £15. Some pound shop acrylic paints for the scenery - £5. So the basic track and textured landscape with a running train came to about £500. Then came the electrical extras: The signal lights from eBay £20 plus £25 for the control pcbs. Servos for points and gates control £20. Mounts for servos £15. Misc wire - £20. Points switches £10. So another £100. Then came the little extras: People, fences, etc £25 at a guess. All in I would guess around £700. Time wise - mainly weekends during the 3 months (6 to 8 hours per day) and maybe 1 hour per evening during the week. Wiring - I’m pretty handy and will have a crack at most things. The wiring looks complex, but it’s all made from discrete sub systems. The track power is separate from the lighting and servos etc. So just do it one system at a time. I did it on the cheap with spare household twin and earth and choc blocks for the track power, and small auto wire with the correct plugs for the servos. I’m sure there are much neater solutions - a little research on what others are doing will help you narrow down the options. Good luck with it. Are we going to see videos?!!!!

@@tonystinytrains1705 Thanks Tony for the detailed reply, much appreciated! I’ve got quite a lot of old bits & pieces, including all the rolling stock I’d need for starters, including a Graham Farish starter set that must be about 20 years old now! Yes, this project has been a long time coming (largely waiting for my retirement, which has now happened). Thanks for the advice about wiring - I still have so much to learn - and buy! Might do videos, but then I might be embarrassed being my first attempt at modelling & all that - I’ve got several videos on YT to my name already, but none about trains or modelling :)

The layout is on a 24” x 46” plywood (9mm) sheet. Good luck with your layout. Are we going to see any videos?

@@tonystinytrains1705 thanks for the reply! As far as videos, idk, let’s see if I can make something worth recording lol

You’d be wrong! The last “models” I built were over 40 years ago - balsa planes and Airfix models - and I wasn’t good at it - just a kid glueing kits together with no care or attention to detail. Thank you for the lovely comment.

Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you liked it!

Thank you very much for your kind words.

And I “borrowed” many of “my ideas” from others! Thank you for your kind comment.

Thank you for the kind words. I am planning a new layout, but I’m limited in space so it will only be a fraction larger - maybe 150mm increase in width and depth. At this time it is a two tier urban setting, but exists only in a draft plan form. Maybe over Christmas I’ll order some track and start putting something concrete together...

Thank you for your kind comment.

I’m happy that you enjoyed it!

Thanks!

Thank you for the kind comments. Are we going to see videos of your layout?

@@tonystinytrains1705 Soon. I am having the roof replaced so had to vacate the loft space.

Thank you for the positive comments, and thanks for the pointer to Mel - very interesting.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. It is certainly something I’ll keep in mind for my new layout.

The cow shed, pallets and barrels were from some 3D object finder site - and general searching. The crane, speed signs, height gauge, flower boxes and telephone poles were drawn by myself in open source or free trial versions of 3D modelling tools - and exported to stl. I’ve no great allegiance to any particular tool - just used the one that seemed appropriate for the task. Even with little experience of the tools, the crane took less than 2 hours to draw. I think it took longer to 3D print it than to actually design it...

Thank you for the kind comment! Lol - I’m no electrical genius, but I can program a bit! I’d never touched an Arduino, a servo, or a servo driver board before I started this project. Absolutely everything was done using online tutorials and following KZbin videos. If you have an idea, there’s a real probability that somebody has already done it before you - and videoed themselves doing it.

@@tonystinytrains1705 Done programming in Basic and Fortran, so there is hope

@@pim1234 lol - I still use FORTRAN at work! You even knowing what FORTRAN is, probably puts you streets ahead of the average Arduino newbie. A few hours with a starter kit and you’d be switching LEDs on and off with a switch, or have them flashing with a timer. You honestly don’t have to have an electrical engineering degree for this!

@@tonystinytrains1705 top ! Watching Arduino vids from now on

Thank you for the positive feedback. Yes, I eventually tuned the intensities with the 9685 pwm duty cycle - it’s simple enough. I was surprised that the perceived intensity of the red, green and yellows differed by so much with a common voltage drop resistor and the same length signal wires. The programmable pwm makes these things easy ;-)

Haha - I see what you did there - that’s a funny yoke. Thank you for the “sunny side up” review!

Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you, and that’s praise indeed having seen your layout. I’m glad you like it.

Thank you for the kind comment!

Thank you for the kind comment! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you for the kind words. Overall, I’m pleased the way it turned out - but quite surprised by my (albeit limited) ability ;-)

You’re welcome! And I fully agree that it’s something special. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment.

And that’s a damn fine comment - thank you! Good luck with your layout - and have fun with it! And don’t forget to post a video of it ;-)

@@tonystinytrains1705 I plan on posting quite a few lol. Cheers from Cleveland Ohio

Pure luck to have captured it!

I’m glad you enjoyed the video. It was pretty special to see it local to me.

It was just luck - we knew the train was running on the line that day and just happened to be at the crossing/tunnel mouth at the right time. But I do like what I captured in the video:-)

@@tonystinytrains1705 "Luck rewards the prepared mind."

Thank you for the kind comment. But you’ve got to put up a video of your progress on your channel ;-)

I did so much research! I was torn between filament and resin. After a couple of months, I now think maybe I should have gone the resin route. But I’m still having fun with the filament printer, so no reason to change (yet!!!). But watch this space ;-)

Thank you for the kind comments. My videos tend to drag on a bit - so I tried to be focused on crossing gate this one. It didn’t occur to me to stick a train on the track!

Thank you for the kind comment. I wasn’t sure anybody would be interested in the underside!

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you for the kind comment. Another video has just been posted!